Monday, March 26, 2007

Late Breaking News: Charest Keeps His Seat

Turns out the CBC can't be trusted. They declared that Quebec premier Jean Charest had definitively lost his seat. Now he seems to have won, and with a 1,300 vote margin no less:

CandidatePartyVote CountVote ShareElected
Jean CharestLIB1313636.56% X
Claude ForguesPQ1180432.85%
Michel DumontADQ640917.84%
Christian BibeauQS22636.3%
Steve DuboisGRN22036.13%
Hubert RichardIND1150.32%
March 27, 12:30:46 AM EDT 212 of 212 polls reporting

It annoys me to no end that once again a major media outlet is more concerned with being the first to declare something than being factual. I wonder if the CBC will issue an apology?

I just send them the following inquiry but bet I'll never receive a response:

I understand a great deal about computer models but do no understand how you could have declared Jean Charest losing, when he clearly ended up winning and not by a small margin.

Based on similar false reporting in past elections, when are you going to place accuracy above the race to be number one?

Why could your newsroom not have waited until "Elected" really meant ELECTED???

2 comments:

KFDodge said...

Hmmm . . . I think something similar happened 'down here' in the states not that long ago. And every election before and after. LOL. It's just stupid media, though if they can't even get basic counting down, what are they really good for?

Robert W. said...

Where's the accountability? If someone in a media outlet makes a major blunder then shouldn't they be fired, or at least shouldn't there be a sincere apology?

In the case of the CBC (like your NPR), apparently not.

Robert